Education

and Society
Week 1: Education and Power
Education and Society

Can schools improve society? If so, how?

Can individual teachers improve society?

What barriers are there to improving society

through education?

Jot down your thoughts about these

questions. As a class, we will try to agree on
our top 5 hows, and on our top 5 barriers.
What is education?

The Sociology of Education What are the

functions of education in society? Who fails,
who succeeds, and why?

2 perspectives on education: Conflict

theories versus consensus theories.

Conflict theories suggest that schools

function to reproduce existing divisions in
society, particularly class divisions. Some
focus on the economic reproduction of
society; others focus on cultural
reproduction.

Consensus theories suggest that education

is important to ensure that children are
socialised into basic societal values and
allocated into adult roles.
Consensus Theories

Emile Durkheim, one of the founding

fathers of Sociology, argued that education
has important functions for holding society
together.

Believed that education transmitted core

shared values and beliefs.

"Society can survive only if there exists amongst

its members a sufficient degree of homogeneity;
education perpetuates and reinforces this
homogeneity by fixing in the child from the
beginning the essential similarities which
collective life demands. Emile Durkhiem

Do you agree or disagree with this

statement?
Durkheim (continued)

Durkheim believed that education had several

functions:

1. To transmit core beliefs and values.

2. To create social solidarity to make
individuals feel part of a meaningful
group/ nation/ etc.

3. To maintain social roles to teach

students to follow social roles by
accustoming them to rules, hierarchy and
expectations.

4. Division oflabour to allocate students to

the jobs that will best suit their abilities.
Conflict Theories

Consensus theories tend to be closer to

the common-sense view of education,
but that doesnt mean that conflict
theories are wrong.

Perhaps schools are getting poorer

students from working-class backgrounds
used to the idea of failure, and to being
told what to do and completing boring,
repetitive work day in, day out? (Bowles
and Gintis theory)
A Brief History

Until the 1950s, the sociology of

education
was dominated by the consensus approach.
But studies revealed the persistence of
inequalities in education, especially of class
and gender.

Policies introduced to address such

inequalities, but they persisted.

So, some theorists became more interested

in theorising the role of education in
(intentionally or inadvertently) reproducing
such inequalities.

Complete hand-out exercise on these two

perspectives on education.
Power

2 different theorists of power:

1) Weber.
2) Foucault.
Before I talk about these, consider

Who has power over your life? How do

they exercise their power? Do you mind?
How do you know what to do? What would
happen if you didnt do it?
2 Theories

1. Weber power is something you have

or dont have. It is hierarchical and top-
down. People may disobey that power if
it is seen as illegitimate.

2. Foucault power is everywhere, and is

not possessed by any particular person.
We are all constrained by internalised
notions of what is seen as common-
sense or a self-evident truth. It is often
invisible, so disobeying it is not seen as
an option.
Education and Power

The education system is a system of power.

Some of that power is power that some people

have over others.

Some of that power is the power that the system

has over everybody.

a) Open your envelope. 4 different forms of power

are included, and 4 examples of power in education.
Match each form of power to the right example.

b) Can you come up with one more example of each

sort of power?

c) Can you put the different forms of power in order,

according to which you think is the most important
in education?
Education and the State

Subject of next weeks lecture.

Clearly, such a powerful institution has

attracted the attention and interest of
successive governments.
Summary

Complete fill the gaps worksheet to

summarise the material covered to far.
Socialisation

One ofthe functions of education

identified by consensus theorists. Lets
look at this concept in more detail.

The process whereby the culture of a

society is transmitted to its children.

Primary socialisation takes place in the

home/ in the family.

Secondary socialisation takes place

outside the home, teaching children (and
adults) how to act appropriately in
different situations.
Schools and Socialisation

Brainstorm places and institutions that are

sites of secondary socialisation. Education is
just one of many.

Complete worksheet on secondary

socialisation.